


Hidden Treasure

by SleepyFairy



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Blackmail, Coming of Age, Friends to Lovers, Gang Leader Kim Hongjoong, Graffiti Artist Kang Yeosang, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kang Yeosang-centric, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Skater Kang Yeosang, Slow Build, Student Council President Park Seonghwa, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24851002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyFairy/pseuds/SleepyFairy
Summary: In a preppy boarding school that only the wealthy get to attend, rumors of a treasure hidden in their campus spread like fire. Students over the years tried their best to get their hands on whatever the mysterious prize was, but it was always well protect by 7... other students? Vigilantes upholding peace? Conceited kids playing justice? Delinquents with an excuse to wreak havoc?Perhaps the narrative changed depending on whose side you're on, but for Kang Yeosang that was irrelevant. He was on his own side only, he wanted the treasure for himself and he had no mercy for whoever dared to stand in his way.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, minor seongjoong - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 78





	1. Prologue - Gone Days

"Can you believe that?" A kid sitting somewhere to Yeosang’s right ask.

"Not really, seems like a load of bs if you ask me. I mean a treasure? Hidden in a high school?" One of the boys far to the left side on their cafeteria table replied.

Yeosang was rushing to write down the end of his research paper on his phone, so focused he didn’t even discerned which one of his friends was speaking half of that lunch time. The paper itself was due to a week still, but he didn’t want to waste time. Studying was his top priority and he always made that clear, as rare as that seemed to be for a high school student.

"Come on, it has to be true if everyone has been talking about it for years now." Yuna insisted in disbelief from her spot next to him.

"What about you, Chan, what do you think?" Yeji asked, tone playful as she clearly didn’t take the matter of the conversation seriously either.

"I don't really believe it, but we have a game there next week so, we might as well check it out if you’re all so curious." The team leader answered from his spot at the end of the table.

Yeosang didn’t need to look up to hear the undertone of mischief and guess the smirk Bang Chan had on his face.

"Sounds like fun." Hyujin commented nibbling on a rubbery cold piece of pizza. "Are you coming this time, Yeosang?"

"I'll pass, thanks." Yeosang had gone to their soccer games one too many times, it didn't vary enough to keep him interested.

"Dude come on, we are literally going treasure hunting what else do you have planned that's more exciting?" Han asked in disbelief.

"I can think of a few things Yeosang would be more interested in doing, am I right? Do you have a new target?" Ryujin asked and although Yeosang’s attention to his phone didn’t sway his eyebrow twitched at the implication. He trusted all his friends, but between the fifteen of them he was always antsy about them keeping his secret. As a collective they were louder than himself, often times filterless, and talked about it without enough discretion while Yeosang tried not to even think about it while at school.

"Can I come too then? Do you need help?" Jeongin eagerly offered. The younger was always excited to go along with his endeavors even though Yeosang tried his best to discourage them.

"Actually, I just have a lot of homework this time." Yeosang answered flatly.

"Boriiiing. For such a badass you’re too much of a nerd." Ryujin poked at him with a fake mean girl voice. "If we win come to the after party at least. We're going to be at our usual spot this time."

"Yeah, there's no good drinking spots at that snob rich school to do it inside their campus." Changbin complains rolling his eyes.

“I’ll think about it.”

»»———— ★ ————««

  
  


**yeji**

arent you coming?

**you**

something came up at home i cant

**yeji**

ugh wtvr loser

**lia**

dont worry sangie we’re here all the time anyway

**chan**

its not everyday we celebrate winning semi finals tho!!!!

**seungmin**

actually we always win its not that rare

**hyujin**

yeah its the third year in a row we get to the finals

**chan**

still you all did great and im so proud of our team 

we worked so hard

ure all good bois

i luv u all so mch

**minho**

hyung youre drunk already

**you**

im muting this chat

Once in a while Yeosang did indeed excused himself from their gatherings just for the sake of it, he was an introvert and it seemed like his friends wanted to hang out so often that it was hard for him to keep up. However this time it wasn’t an excuse or anything and he was as upset as them at being caught up in a last minute family reunion.

Some distant cousin had gotten a promotion and seemed like it was his parents turn to host a family celebration, which was putting a wrench on his plan to catch up on his studies. As much of a family enthusiast that he mom was, she was also fairly displeased with his plans being soured, after all she was the one that worked so hard to push the sense of urgency when it came to studying onto him, and didn’t mind Yeosang taking up space at the dinner table with his pile of books instead of participating in the meaningless chit chatter.

“Take a rest, kid! It’s a party!” An older uncle called out at him with a smile.

“Just leave him be, my child is such a good student and I don’t want any of you influencing him. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.” His mom chided, always ready to gush over his model behavior and how he’d grow up to be someone of importance, that could live in comfort and not scraping by paycheck to paycheck like they all were.

“Is that how you talk to your older brother? But I guess you’re right, my kid over here also wouldn’t spend a day without drowning in books and look where it got him, not even an year out of college and we’re already celebrating a promotion!” The table all hummed agreeing with pride.

“I remember being in high school still, took me so long to…” Taehyung, the center of the party right then, started reminiscing and the part of Yeosang’s brain that was still picking up on their conversation clocked out as he focused on the notebook in between cans of beers and cheap wine glasses, writing down incessantly while being careful not to knock onto any of them. 

He was a page and a half in before something said caught his attention and of course it was about the only thing more important in life than his studies, money.

“... a bit more than 900k? maybe even a million? Man, rich kids are insane and to think all this money is just there laying around to this day.” Taehyung commented. Catching Yeosang’s eyes briefly he continued, noticing his sudden interest. “I’m sure you heard about those silly treasure rumors, right Yeosang? Specially since you hang out with jocks and all that. It was all the talk when I was in your grade too, somehow it had reached every school in the district.”

Yeosang didn’t answer, had he heard about it? It sounded familiar. His cousin continued on anyway.

“Kids are so good at making up stories, I heard so many crazy stuff surrounding this silly treasure that I still can’t believe the truth. Turns out a colleague of mine was a member of some frat in college where most people in there had graduate from KQ High and he learned from them that the frat legacy kids had some sort of secret club in school and that treasure was actually money the frat would pitch in to make one of those tacky treasure hunt games at the end of the year with them.”

“Worse of all they always hid the money in the same place and used the same clues, it’s ridiculous. But I guess it came from a good place, seems like they’d always let the scholarship kids get it. Either way, it seems like some year none of them found it and the frat guys didn’t bother to go pick it up. The next year they did it again, doubled the value and no one found it _again_ , then someone was a loudmouth and rumors started to spread. So they stop holding this event, since it was against school policy or something like that.”

“Isn’t it the most wasteful thing you ever heard? I’m out here choking on college debt when there’s a million bucks sitting under some floorboards that no one will own up to.” Taehyung sighed, clearly worked up.

Yeosang’s mind worked a thousand miles per hour, he heard the name of this school before, in fact he knew exactly where it was.

“Actually my youngest girl has a friend that goes there.” One of his aunts started. “She told me about this story, but I’ve heard it quite different. Something about there being kids protecting this “treasure”?” His aunt made quotation marks, clearly feeling the term to be inadequate. “Maybe this secret society you mention has taken more of a defensive role with the story spreading so far.”

“I think calling a bunch of snobby rich teenagers a secret society is giving them too much credit. And it can’t be them, by the time my coworker had graduated it seemed the tradition was broken already and this club didn’t exist anymore.”

“That high school… KQ High? Isn’t that the school Wooyoungie goes to?” His mom voiced the thoughts in Yeosang head to the whole time.

“Yeah, he’d been begging me to try out for a scholarship since forever.” Yeosang mumbled, not really liking the attention that information brought on himself.

His mother huffed. ”Don’t go getting any ideas just because of a silly rumor.”

“Actually it’s probably the best school in the country, if you go there you automatically get into any college of your choice. If you can handle keeping your grades up you should try it Yeosang.” Taehyung encouraged with a wink.

“Well, I guess if Wooyoung goes there it must be good. I trust his mom on that.” His mom relented.

“I told him I’d think about it.” Yeosang muttered. That was a lot of information all of a sudden. A whole million huh. Yeosang had over a thousand problems already at the tender age of sixteen and all of them could be fixed by that. Even if he didn’t want to admit, it got him intrigued.

»»———— ★ ————««

“Yeosang? Are you going out tonight? Did you finish packing?” His mom yelled out from the living room.

“Yeah!” He replied yelling back.

In the end the prospect of this “treasure” had gotten to him. Yeosang couldn't believe that he was presented with such a too-good to be true lucky opportunity the more he researched about it. If he could get into the school then getting the treasure would be the easiest money made in the whole history. 

At first it felt silly to go to such lengths for that, but he needed it so _so_ bad. It was exactly what he needed to jumpstart the life he planned for himself. If he wasn't bound by all this family debt that would only pile up with college, then maybe he'd have leeway to actually pursue something he wanted to do instead of what was already expected of him.

So he devised his plan, decided to try out for a scholarship and full on transfer to the preppy school, specially since it made sense for him to try and spice up his curriculum for better colleges if he actually got the money. 

He didn't particularly put much faith into getting in, and was ready to infiltrate the space three other different ways if he didn't pass. But he did. So he went for it. 

After months of studying triple the ridiculous amount he already did he took the test for a scholarship to get into KQ High. Usually such tests wouldn’t be held in the middle of the year, Yeosang had gone through scholarship programs most of his education and it just didn’t work like that, but it seemed students there had trouble keeping up with their standards, hence the free spots. Still he manage to pass with flying colors and now he was done packing to live in their dorms, ready to leave the next day.

His last night of freedom. He ran his hands through one of the shelves, picking up dust on the pad of his fingers. The furniture was littered with little achievements, little trophies, medals and even grade cards with full A++s or whatever the grading system it was at the time. Science fairs, writing competitions, a healthy amount of sports. A bright future was what his mom saw when she looked at it.

Yeosang remembered when those were the only things that defined him, maybe not to himself but to everyone else. If only they knew. Memories of his early middle school years flooded him, of how he used to always sit alone at the shade of a tree, too intimidated by the loud whispers of the cafeteria. 

How he was perceived as cold and indifferent, when in all honestly he was just shy and steadily cultivating a social anxiety that no one was helping him with by distancing themselves. 

Memories of how his looks and his grades just set him apart, being praised and followed by impressed eyes while also being kept at an arm’s length, put a level above.

Yeosang chuckled at that one day he just appeared sitting at the popular kids table and no one even batted an eye as if that was just the natural course of things, while there would be a ruckus if it was anyone else. 

The muted confusion that followed clouding the air for a few weeks questioning what happened, what changed and how Hyujin and Yeji would glare at anyone that tried mentioning it. A secret only commented inside their little bubble.

He reached down under to pull on a pile of notebooks hidden by a plethora of papers neatly arranged, certifications from extracurricular courses he was pushed into to. They might have been poor and heavily in debt, but his mother was greatly resourceful in finding education he could get for minimum expenses if not free. 

Yeosang didn’t think he ever tried to say no to those. His mother was not wrong when she would pick at him and say they couldn’t let an opportunity pass. They were already starting behind, every step ahead counted. He agreed with her on that, accumulating these achievements mindlessly like clockwork.

Those weren’t what he was looking for at the moment however, opening up the sketchbooks hidden beneath and skimming through his drawings. The lid on top of his secrets, showing his core without letting anyone know the lines in those drawings were actually him in his most pure form. A treasure map to his soul, is what he’d call it if Yeosang was one for poetics.

Yeosang found the one he was looking for, ripping the page off and folding before shoving it into his pocket and pushing the sketchbook back to its discreet hiding spot. Picking up his board he rushed downstairs, getting stopped briefly by his father to ask him where he was going so late at night, as per routine.

“We’re sleeping over at Chaeryeong’s house again.”

“You know, if I didn’t know you liked boys I’d have to be worried about you sleeping over so often. Is there something I should know?” His father pointed out sternly.

“Nope.” And with that he rushed out. Perks of being a model student and son, he had earned enough trust to just roam freely. Chaeryeong’s house was usually the place he lied about being at just in case, her older sister being cool with lying for them as long as she got frequent updates and a promise to not drive while drunk. Not that she was willing to go pick them up that often, but she wouldn’t put up with them doing stupid shit either.

Soon enough he rushed through the side of a highway on his skateboard, his path lit up precariously by warm city lights and a cute key chain lantern, tied up to one of the loops on his dark jeans, gifted to him by Felix. Yeosang reminisced about the time the dark of the night still scared him and he didn’t yet have a plan on what to do if he got caught up in something dangerous.

He took a quick break by his hideout, an abandoned greenhouse not far into the woods by the side of the road, to grab a bag filled with stencils and materials already waiting for him. It pained him to bid the place farewell for now, his only true safe space, but it was only for a while. The school he had transferred to wasn’t that far, he just needed time to learn how to sneak out of their fortress-like campus.

Moving on, Yeosang enjoyed the wind against his skin going towards his next target. Nothing better than a whole billboard to write his own goodbye letter onto, a memory of himself to the uneventful city below. Sneaking over the fence and through a broken window into the abandoned building, he took no time getting to the roof and getting to work.

How many rooftops, billboards and walls throughout the city were already marked with his art? Who would guess the mysterious artist was him? It made him laugh almost maniacally at the freeing feeling, losing himself between the long periods of spraying and the little more precise brush strokes. Yeosang stepped back admiring his own work, fond of another of his little secrets that was splayed out for everyone to admire as well.

A hollow metal sound ringed through the empty space, a flash of light missing him barely and an angry yell that was all too familiar had him bolting, glad that he was already done for this piece. It wasn’t a big one, since the day he had gotten friends to play look out and distract guards for him Yeosang had started planning pieces proportionally around that. He risked less alone and dared more with them.

The next place he went to was his final destination, not far from his hideout by the woods around the main road, a clearing his friends were always at around a fire with half empty bottles and silly jokes ready to welcome him.

“Yeosangie!” Lia yelled out at his sight, the first to notice his arrival.

“Dude, you’re late, all the food is gone.” Woojin said as Yeosang sat down next to him.

“Your shirt is ruined! Again!” Chaeryeong pointed out tugging on his sleeve, now tainted with fresh red paint against the black cloth.

“You did another one? You should have called us for help.” Chan frowned at him. Chan did that often, frown when he didn’t call them at every corner. Yeosang almost felt like an ugly duckling that got adopted by mother goose with his other little chicks of the soccer team, always getting fawned over just as much as all the other players under his leadership.

“It was just something small.” Yeosang replied with a little smile, reaching for a drink.

The smell of spray paint on his fingers, the dull familiar ache of skating all night on uneven ground stinging his ankles, the dark sky and the fresh night air on his pale face that didn’t catch enough sunlight. 

A science fair ribbon, a bronze medal from a swimming competition and a water bottle filled with cheap vodka he snagged from his parents cabinet sitting on top of notebooks filled with way too intimate art. 

A clumsy bonfire, that he swore one day would slip and light up the whole ground, and loud warm laughter laced with alcohol from the popular kids he never thought one day he would have gotten used to calling his friends. 

Those were Yeosang origins. He would try his best not to forget those when he was sitting on a grand pile of cash, he smirked against his own drink as he savored every last bit of it all.

“Are you excited for classes to start again?” Yuna ask from his left.

“Knowing Yeosang he probably already have the whole syllabus read and memorized.” Minho snorted out cheekily.

“Me? I’m transferring to another school this year, so I have nothing ready yet.” Yeosang mumbled nonchalantly. His mind were in different type of plans as far as school went.


	2. Road Not Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And what are you doing chaperoning new students? Was there a quiz you were trying to escape?” Seonghwa continued to bicker without answering his question.
> 
> “I’m hurt you think so badly of me, hyung. Sangie here is my childhood best friend, remember I told you about him? What type of best friend would I be if I didn’t come out to welcome him?” Wooyoung snapped back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally it starts. This build is kind of slow, but I swear it picks up by chapter 3, so please bare with me. I’m trying to do this thing where I write shorter but more frequent updates, instead of posting a wall of text every two to three months, but that also means this is gonna end up with so many chapters I’m sorry already.  
> English isn't my first language and I always accept constructive criticism, although I'd be thankful if it was worded gently I'm a pretty sensitive bean. Also if by any chance anyone reading this also keeps up with my superhero au fic, Suicide Squad, then rest assured I haven’t dropped it. Updates will continue to be long and sparse on that one though, for pacing purposes.

“Guess who!” 

“Wooyoung?” Yeosang asked through hands covering his eyes. He’d be panicked by the sudden touch if that wasn’t a voice he’d know anywhere.

“Pretty boy still remembers me!” Wooyoung joked faking offense.

“We text nonstop and you come hangout like once a month, don’t be dramatic.”

“You’re always busy studying though. But anyway, let’s go before we’re late.” Wooyoung wasted no time already pulling him by the hand.

“Actually, I’m waiting…”

“For a teacher, right? I talked to your counselor and he was glad to let me give you a tour in his place.” Wooyoung cut him off.

It was the first day of class for Yeosang finally, although he was almost a month late to the start of the semester. Transferring and moving took time when you were a scholarship student apparently, with all the tests, waiting for the result dates and paperwork that was necessary.

“I even get to ditch first class and everything.” His best friend continued with a grin.

“How convenient.” As good as Wooyoung grades were Yeosang knew he was as much of a bratty student as he was when they were young, the brunette wouldn't put it past him to be there just to skip class.

“Can’t you just be happy your best friend came to pick you up and personally show you around?” Wooyoung dismissed him, proceeding to pull him inside the gate.

The campus was huge, outside the main gates lied several school facilities spread around and inside still took a good ten minute walk to get to their destination. Yeosang wasn’t quite sure where they were going, but they just kept walking straight ahead, making him glad it was at least a path pattern he could remember later. 

Soon they reached a building marked as the secretary office by a shiny metal plaque. In his old school the administration department was barely a full room, sharing it with the teacher’s lounger, but here it seemed to be a whole five story building. One of the first things they see inside past the main hall is a wooden counter that Wooyoung skips ahead to and grabs a bell that sat there.

“Hwa!!!” The younger yelled out while shaking it incessantly.

“Don’t yell on the council room or I won’t come. What are even doing outside of class, brat.” A stunning blonde came out looking annoyed, quickly pulling the adornment from Wooyoung’s hand.

“Wow, is this how you treat your friends? No wonder no one wants to enter the council, old man.” Wooyoung poked at him.

“I’m only an year older!” The boy’s outraged face was comical, his striking features looking somehow close to a ruffled bird and Yeosang immediately understood why Wooyoung picked on him, the older seemed easy to rile up right off the bat. “Seriously go back to class before a teacher arrives.”

“Oh, Seonghwa if only you were a little more observant. I, out of my pure heartfelt will to be helpful for once volunteered to help out a new student, so I don’t actually have class right now. If you’d be so kind to do your job and check Sangie in, please. We have a tour to continue before second period starts.” Wooyoung told the older with exaggerated verbatim that made even Yeosang roll his eyes. Did he really needed to be so extra? Although it was almost endearing to see his old friend still acted exactly how he remembered, as annoying as he sounded.

“Oh, hi! You must be Yeosang, we were waiting for you. Come in and have a seat.” Seonghwa turned to him, a smile appearing on his face as he finally noticed the extra presence. It was soft to an extent, but Yeosang would link it to a barely genuine customer service smile, warm but not quite reaching his eyes. 

The door to the side of the counter opened and he followed Wooyoung inside the room and then through a second door to a meeting table that his best friend unceremoniously sat at. After placing a pile of papers in front of Yeosang, Seonghwa sat on the other side, crossing his legs and preparing himself to give out the usual speech.

“Here you go, I need you to fill in these forms and later if you could please go over these papers here that would be great. They explain some of the rules and obligations students have and some instructions for different cases you might need help with. This one is your schedule, Wooyoung will show where...” He started explaining, grabbing and organizing the papers in different smaller piles as he spoke before getting rudely interrupted by Wooyoung.

“Where are the two beanpoles, hyung? It’s kinda depressing seeing the student council president come out just to do check ins and stuff.” The younger spoke with a bored expression and the older just gave a sigh and handed Yeosang the pen, pushing the forms’ pile forward.

“And what are you doing chaperoning new students? Was there a quiz you were trying to escape?” Seonghwa bickered on without answering his question, after making sure Yeosang had started writing words down.

“I’m hurt you think so badly of me, hyung. Sangie here is my childhood best friend, remember I told you about him? What type of best friend would I be if I didn’t come out to welcome him?” Wooyoung snapped back.

“Is that so?” The older’s eye lit up slightly as he tried to keep an unbothered expression, either with curiosity or recognition Yeosang couldn’t be sure. “I’m impressed to meet someone that can stand this loudmouth for so long.”

Wooyoung clicked his tongue and from then on Yeosang tuned out their banter, trying to focus on the papers in front of him instead of the new set of eyes that followed his hands movements and that gave him faint anxiety.

So this school has a student council. His old school didn’t have anything beyond a class representative that wouldn’t do much besides collect homework. And Seonghwa was the council’s president. That was probably a good connection to have, lucky Wooyoung. 

‘Ah! This here, you filled it wrong, it needs to be the full date…”

»»———— ★ ————««

“Class, this is Kang Yeosang, our new student. I hope we can all welcome him without any trouble.”

Yeosang was mortified standing in front of the class. Wooyoung stood not too far from him, sending him a encouraging smile from out of the doorway. They weren’t in the same class, and it didn’t take long for the teacher that was presenting him to notice the other lingering around.

He went to shoo the stray student away, but Yeosang wasn’t too focused on either of them anymore. He wasn’t really focused on anything in particular really, his mind was going blank and it was getting harder to breath. People were muttering as soon as the teacher wasn’t there and he could feel all the eyes on him like needles prickling his skin.

 _“Isn’t it too late to transfer?”_ Someone question loudly.

 _“Must be here on a scholarship...”_ The answer came in whisper.

 _“... looks cute.”_ A few girls already gossiped, rushed words almost unintelligible _“Cute? Maybe if he’d smile…”_

“Okay, class settle down. Go on and take a seat Yeosang.” The teacher cut them off as he came back.

It took Yeosang a few seconds to register the words, moving to an empty seat at the front by the window, trying not to make eye contact as he passed through the front row of students. Beyond Yeosang’s introduction class continued uneventfully. The anxious new student could feel eyes on his back unwavering for the first few hours, a few muttering here and there, but at some point he wasn’t sure anymore if it was his own paranoia or if these rich kids were that bored to still be paying attention to him.

It doesn’t matter, he tried to calm himself down and focus on what the teacher was saying and what the expensive books he was given had to present. The slightly more advanced than he was used to subject made for a good distraction.

Classes came and went, Wooyoung coming through the breaks and leading the path whenever he had classes in rooms other than his homeroom. Soon lunchtime came and his best friend was at his door waiting for him yet again. He appreciated Wooyoung he really did, but it was starting to become apparent that Yeosang wouldn’t be getting a second alone if the other had iit his way, at least not for the first couple of weeks.

And usually this would be good, because Yeosang was the epitome of awkward when he was alone and as a new student the first few days were daunting, but. He had priorities. Which included needing to check on the treasure, make sure it even existed and that he was the first one to get to it. It might only be his first day, but he was already in a rush.

They had taken a seat on a booth at the corner of the cafeteria, the place more alike an old dinner than the messy out of place picnic tables that he was used to, and Yeosang was starting to get fidgety, trying to think through an excuse to ditch his best friend. 

It would’ve been easier if Wooyoung wasn’t so welcoming, if Yeosang didn’t genuinely miss him so much and took so much comfort in his silly jokes and sharp teasing, if they didn’t fall back into the role of best friends so easily. 

The other was in the middle of letting out a string of high pitch laughter at Yeosang’s description of a teacher he hadn’t particularly liked when the excuse seemed to come by itself. Or rather by someone else.

One of Wooyoung’s friends came by, greeting them with a sweet voice and dimpled smile that contradicted itself in the way the other’s eyes turned sharp and eyed Yeosang in a way that made him feel like prey when Wooyoung turned back to excuse himself.

He leaned down to Wooyoung’s ear level, not quite whispering like little kids, but clearly not willing to let Yeosang in on whatever he had to say.

“Right now? I thought...” He heard Wooyoung answer in a rushed tone.

Some more whispering from the other guy and Wooyoung jaw locked, he was upset Yeosang noticed.

“I got it.” His best friend finally answered the guy and then turned back to him, trying to soften his expression. “I have something I need to do right now Sangie, but I’ll come back when class is done and take you to the dorms.”

Please don’t, Yeosang silently replied in his head. His last class was so close to where he knew the treasure was and he needed that alone time as soon as possible. Yeosang knew that in no time they’d fall into a routine and chances like that would be even more scarce.

»»———— ★ ————«

In the end Yeosang received a text from Wooyoung telling he would be held up for longer than he expected and to not wait around for him. Yeosang actually had to stay a long time at the counselor’s office just sorting things out which would probably give Wooyoung enough time to come back, but the new student didn’t mention that, the opportunity was too perfect.

After he was finally free from the welcome speeches, questions and warnings, Yeosang rushed back to the chemistry lab he had been in a couple of hours before. If the old blueprints he had studied through and the information his cousin had given were right the treasure was hidden under the floorboards of an walk-in supply closet at the back of the room.

It would be a lie to say that Yeosang had not spent the last hours of the day freaking out over the fact that the room was completely refurbished and much much shorter than on the decades old paper, but he came too far to be swayed so easily. 

A quick look inside the next room showed it was also quite small, the free space supposed to be in between them disappearing between walls that Yeosang deemed hopefully not back to back. In the place where once had been the door he was looking for now stood a tall cabinet, that after a quick check to make sure he was alone Yeosang wasted no time pushing to the side, vials and bottles shaking precariously as it dragged across the wooden flooring.

Behind it…

Yeosang held his breath before turning back to it.

...the white wall continued without breaks, just like the rest of the room. 

He sighed. Well so much for a million. It wasn’t like he got his hopes up with a future where he would get to make his own choices anyway, haha that would be silly. 

He tapped the wall frantically still looking for a breach that he still hadn't spotted, hands shaking and eyesight slightly blurry. Even if he could numbly rationalize the disappointment in his head as his search was unsuccessful, waves of desperation leaked out as his knees slowly gave out and he rested his head onto the cool plaster of the wallboard. Yeosang took a deep breath trying to control himself. It took a few moments, but finally his eyes refocused and his throat didn’t feel like it was closing on itself anymore.

And that's when he saw, a small hole in the wall, close to the wall's footer. He tried knocking now, listening closely for an echo. One knock, two knocks. It was hollow. 

Rushing to his backpack Yeosang brought out a few tools he managed to sneak in -this fancy school really didn’t have an ounce of security it seemed- and started clawing at the hole with a tiny crank crowbar. If there was nothing on the other side this probably could get him in so much unnecessary trouble, but, when finally there was enough space for Yeosang to shine a light inside it, the old shelves and rotten floorboards appeared just like his cousin had told him about.

He tried his best to not make the hole bigger than he needed, just enough to push his arm all the way up his shoulder inside and put all his strength into levering the farthest wooden plank off. It came off without much resistance with a puff of dust that had the brunette coughing for a minute before being able to look back inside.

It gave way for the top of a duffel bag, that Yeosang wasted no time pulling the zipper open, hand shaking with a different emotion now. He felt like crying all over again when green paper appeared. He did it, he had found the treasure.

A pop rang loudly, sudden and out of the blue, getting the new student to stand up with a bolt. Yeosang scanned the room quickly, heart beating loudly, but he was still alone. With a relieved sigh he tried identifying the sound more calmly now. A lingering glance out of the window showed it was the spotlights at the neighboring sports field, that had not been on before.

By now the sky was dark, the lights being the only illumination down there and Yeosang wondered who would be using the field at this hour when the whole building seemed to have emptied out already. Probably just an extra practice of whatever team were already into tournament season.

Looking down, curiosity getting the best out of him, Yeosang quickly spot two groups. Even from afar it was easy to deduce both to be rivals, the two sides flared out in a clear defensive stance. A head of silver hair caught his attention, Wooyoung.

As far as Yeosang knew the boy didn't do any sports beside dancing or anything, was this the reason the younger bailed on his best friend’s first day? Not that Yeosang minded, but now he was the slightest bit intrigued. Wooyoung was the type to tell him everything, even info Yeosang didn’t have any business knowing. The concept of him hiding something, as mundane as it might be was unexpected.

The people by Wooyoung’s side weren’t anyone he could recognize from that far, on the other side however… Chan? The rest of the soccer team and his friends stood side by side, arms crossed looking ready to pounce at the first breach. 

Yeosang took a step back in surprise, feet clumsy hitting a desk and toppling over both his backpack and a few of the chemistry tools left there. The loud clank of metal hitting the floor made him wince instantly, sound traveling all they out the window. Chan must've somehow managed to hear, and he wasn't the only one. Some of them looked up searching for it's source, Chan's eyes meeting Yeosang’s for a second before he ducked under the window sill. 

Did anyone else see him? The last thing he needed was anyone else snooping around that room. What were they doing down there anyway?

Yeosang stopped himself from thinking any further and focused on going back to pull the duffel bag out in a rush, making sure to hide the hole he had made on the wall before pushing the cabinet back and gathering his stuff. He needed to get out of there fast and pray to God no one recognized him from that far.


	3. Hellevator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The phone buzzed besides his hand on the couch, showing notifications with Ryujin's nickname on the screen.  
> Opening it made Yeosang’s blood go cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably not the most fun chapter to read, I couldn’t make it better, but I really needed it for world building and character motivation. Next chapter things start to pick up and be more fun though! Also I needed villains and I’m not proud of writing them that way, so don’t take it too seriously, their action obviously don’t align with the idols used to fill in the roles.

The next day Yeosang already had a few texts, some worried, some angry, the most final one from Chan just asking to meet up. Yeosang had that weekend to go back home and bring a few more bags before he was official under the school’s lockdown rules, so he thought that was probably his best chance to check in with his old friend and make sure they didn’t suspect anything from catching him at the crime scene.

Why would they? Yeosang wasn’t sure, but the thought had him on edge. He had a ridiculously large pile of cash under his bed that he didn’t know how to properly handle yet and he could feel the paranoia settling in.

The brunette arrived at the usual ice cream parlor they’d often go when the girls lead their plans, it didn’t surprise him to see Yeji already sat at an outdoor table, Chan leaning against one of the open frames the vintage little building had for entrances. 

“Hey, Sangie!” Yeji waved up at him before he was even past the flowery gate and into the open yard. Yeosang had quite a few nicknames that circulated through his group of friends, but somehow this one felt odd coming from Yeji’s mouth, it wasn’t one she used often.

“You didn’t tell us the school you were transferring to was KQ!” She started before he even managed to get a word in.

“Yeah, a friend of my mom’s suggested it.” He mumbled. Something didn’t feel right. The glint in her eyes was too excited for just plain old Yeosang.

“Ah, I see. I get it now. The soccer team had so many games there, but I don’t think you ever went there with us, so it just came as a surprise.” She replied.

“I didn’t even know they were a rival team or anything either.” Yeosang commented, reaching for his bag.

“Oh, I ordered for you already Sangie. Cookies and cream, right?” Yeji smiled at him.

“Ri-” Yeosang was about to fall into the usual string of one word answers, it was easy to fall into it comfortably with his old friends, but got stopped as fast as he opened his mouth.

“So, Monday, in the field. Do you know those guys?” Chan interrupted him, expression unreadable under sunglasses and a non committal frown.

“Well, one of them, but I didn’t think he was into sports actually. Why?” As far as Yeosang knew, Wooyoung already had his schedule full with the dance club, it didn’t make sense he’d be involved in a soccer rivalry.

“He didn’t tell you what we were doing there?” Chan asked, suspicion seeping into his voice.

“No?” Not being in the loop was starting to make Yeosang uneasy.

“Sangie, this is perfect!” Yeji exclaimed, tone too cheerful for the turn the conversation was taking. “So we kinda need a favor.”

Yeosang could only look back skeptically. He knew there was something wrong and whatever they needed it couldn’t be good.

“We’ve been having some trouble with the gang from that school, for a while now, and it’s gotten pretty out of hand lately.” Chan moved closer as he explained, sitting backwards into a chair and leaning forward against the back of the seat, closer to Yeosang.

It was then that he pulled up the sunglasses up, revealing the fading signs of a still very much present black eye. His nose was scrapped and now the younger realized the few bandages here and there from his cheek bones to his forearms weren’t just sport injuries as he had dismissively ruled them off as. “It wasn’t looking good on our side as you can see. We were there to call for a truce.”

“They did that? I don’t think Woo would-”

“Oh he would. All of them would.” Chan cut him off bitterly.

“Anyway, so you’re there, right? And you’re one of their friends already, we were thinking maybe you could get involved on their side. Let us know if anything useful comes up.” Yeji suggested, a signature scheming smile Yeosang knew so well.

“I don’t-” Yeosang didn’t even need to think twice to know that whatever this crazy situation was, it was definitely way more trouble than it was worth.

“Sangie. We’re friends, right? And friends help each other. Remember that treasure? We’ve been trying to look for it every time we’ve been there, but they just won’t let us into their territory. They have to be hiding something, if you help we can share the prize, doesn’t that sound good?” She stage whispered conspiratory.

At the mention of the treasure Yeosang stiffened. Now he had an actual reason to decline, the last thing he wanted was to actively help people go after something he already had stolen.

“Look, I don’t really know the whole situation, but I already know for sure I don’t want to get involved.” Yeosang said in a tone of finality.

“Man, and I actually thought we meant something to you.” Yeji sighed leaning back in her chair. It was always jarring how she could switch on and off her cute side to the fierce mean girl that she so easily played the part of. “My dad is a cop, you remember that, right? The whole graffiti thing is something they are pursuing very seriously, I’m sure the chief would love to see some picture evidence and know who they’ve been chasing for the last three years.”

He couldn’t believe his ears, Yeosang seriously couldn’t believe one of his best friends was threatening him like that right now. The brunette looked at Chan, wide eyes pleading, but the other just uncomfortably looked down, apparently condoning the thinly veiled hostility.

Yeosang liked to think his unconventional hobby wasn’t that deep or anything too serious, but in the end he had be tainting walls across the city for too long and the scale had only grew with time, specially with the addition of a support team and including a literal police insider like Yeji. 

He was downright wanted at this point, if this was old western times he’d have a hefty bounty over his head, despite the big deal the police chief made of it being unwarranted in his view. Didn’t the police force have worse criminals to go after? As a minor Yeosang doubted that the punishment would be severe enough to justify the effort. 

But the fines that they’d charge his family, those could officially end their already indebted patrimony. And now that Yeosang had seen that treasure in person, held the money in his hands… It was the first time he actually let himself dream of a ‘bright future’. Not the one his parents expected or the one that’d make him the most money, but the one he could actually enjoy living for. 

Even thinking of it felt like taboo, growing up with a meal less on weekends and having to brave through winter with a thinner jacket, for Yeosang to say he wanted to pursue art when every teacher would express how he could do something “greater”, more lucrative. But he wanted to, so much, and now he could do it. If only he survived this next two years and kept that treasure. 

Getting expelled from school would ruin everything. Both his new plan A or his parents plan B. Getting a criminal record only cemented the end for him even more. And he couldn’t believe someone he would call a friend would dare threaten him like this.

Not that Yeji knew how much it meant to him, how much his family struggled monetarily or how much being in that school would benefit him in a way Yeosang never allowed himself to dream of. Yeosang just never let them know, never opened himself up enough and maybe that put a hinge on how much betrayal he was trying not feel. 

But, again, come on, a criminal record? Wouldn’t that ruin any kid’s lives? They had to go college eventually and Yeosang put so much effort into being a model student. It was evil regardless!

“Just think about it.” Chan pleaded halfheartedly.

A waitress interrupted the heavy silence that fell as they waited for Yeosang to answer, finally bringing out their order, delayed that much by a petit gateau that Yeji had an habit of ordering and took a few minutes more to get ready, yet Yeosang didn’t stick around to partake in any of it. 

Taking his board, he rushed out with a muttered excuse and barely a farewell. This was one of his worst nightmares and it had him panicking. No wonder he always kept to himself if every friend he had was ready to turn on him at the drop of a hat. Even Wooyoung now seemed to be lying to him, even him.

He skated the rest of the day off aimlessly, just trying to clear his head and let his thoughts get taken away by the wind that ruffled his hair. When the sky turned dark his parents were rushing him back into the house, wanting to spend some family time before dropping him back on campus. Yeosang couldn’t really focus on whatever movie they were watching together or the conversation that his mother made and effort to keep going, but he played the part of her polite son nonetheless, even if the slightest bit off.

The talk took a tangent into a warning speech. Yeosang was never really told off, but he got that kind of talk down a lot, about not letting himself go and to keep striving for improvement. His mother worried about him being away and in an environment like that he’d get lazy and spoiled. He wasn’t allowed any slip ups when it came to his grades, just the thought made his stomach churn.

Yeosang had grown up pretty poor. The contrast between even his family’s apartment and his new bedroom back at the dorm made him feel more out of his element in that school than he wanted to admit. His family was sunk pretty deep in debt and that fact had dictated most of the course of his life until now, although that was another one of the plethora of things he didn’t want to admit to. 

His family had expectations for him based on that, he was supposed to dive deep into all the education system had to offer him and come out as a very well earning doctor or engineer or something his parents deemed stable enough to be acceptable. He was always pushed to better himself at every opportunity, held to the highest standards, however that was never really a problem for Yeosang, other than a few panic attacks and gastritis that he had gotten used to by now, and he always complied, managed to achieve enough to keep up with expectations. 

And then art was always a escape for him when things just piled on and on until the stress was too much. His drawings were the only thing he was seriously interested in and cared deeply for. He could get lost in it for hours and express so much of the worlds kept inside of his mind, the ones he was never able to voice out, that he never trusted anyone with, he could just let it all out like this. He accepted the fact that it was always going to be just a hobby, he couldn’t really dedicate his life to it when he was already starting the game of life with such financial setbacks. If he was going to take on college debt as well then he had to make it worth it. 

Yeosang was already bad at communicating, anxious and closed off. No way he’d he’d tell anyone about those struggles, much less about something so precious to him. And for the longest time he didn’t have anyone to open up to, besides Wooyoung. Wooyoung had always been there, having met at daycare from a young age and just staying as a constant. He never had the courage to voice that particular side of him as he developed that passion and the -very unhealthy- outlet for it by the time they had separated lives already though, not wanting to be a burden and honestly a bit embarrassed.

And then came his old friends, if he could even call them that. The sports team boys were loud, reckless and didn't really know how to read the mood outside their own bubble, their Capitan was protective and the drama club girls were so confident that every other girl in a mile's range felt threatened at misinterpreted arrogance. It wasn't a surprise that they got into fights pretty often. The whole group was pretty closed off, only allowing in handpicked people and listening only to what they wanted to hear.

They were just a group of friends, but with their attitude it made sense that they got mixed up in things like school gang fights and such, getting territorial over their hangout spots and taking insult when anyone else would just let it go. The whole sport rivalry, that Yeosang knew they took too seriously, didn't help with all the trash talking and greed for prizes involved.

Yeosang never really got involved enough with that part of them to know how in deep they were though. He didn't really care for sports and plays, the skater boy was only there when they were having fun. 

On the other hand most of them got pretty involved in Yeosang's endeavors. A number of reasons were presented by them when Yeosang questioned their interest. They liked his art, they were worried for him out alone, they wanted to help out... Yeosang didn't really get what part of it was worth the trouble for them, but the strong mentality of 'that's what friends are for' ran strong through all of them.

Yeosang couldn’t stop thinking and looking back for signs that those friendships weren’t genuine, he couldn’t believe he had been so naive. And actually he wasn’t. Perhaps that's where Yeosang really fucked up. 

This group was always in their own bubble. They cared deeply for each other and no one else. Their dynamics were very misleading and could easily become confusing the more an outsider looked at it. Yeosang had never felt pressured to say anything. They were always satisfied with his silence and whenever he had something to say it didn't feel out of place. He never felt a rush of sudden attention that put him on the spot, yet he felt heard, like what Yeosang said was important. It sent mixed signs to him. He felt that he was important, but only as important as he wanted to be and that comforted him.

And that's really where Yeosang was wrong. Everything really boiled down to expectations in his life, didn’t it? Because that was only inside the bubble. Inside the bubble everyone acted how they wanted and never got questioned about anything and everything worked, but the outside still existed. If it didn't then the world would be a perfect place. 

And the mistake Yeosang made was to not notice that those expectations on the outside still existed. That friendship involved more than just coexisting besides each other, even though Yeosang desperately always wished it didn’t. It required effort and maintenance. And everyone else was always willing to put down the effort to get close to him whenever he made a move to open up. Yeosang never thought too deeply about it, because he was never required to and so he never put as much conscious effort outside the bubble. He didn't notice that he should have.

Around the time he found out about the treasure he started getting distant. He didn't think about his friends. At the back of his head he just assumed everything would be the same outside school grounds. Meeting up and hanging out as always. 

And maybe it could've been like this, if he had talked to them about it, but did Yeosang have the sense to communicate things thoroughly? On the contrary, Yeosang relayed the news during a late night escaped without much thought. They hadn't seen each other for a while since Yeosang was busy scheming and studying for the tests that could get him a scholarship. The news left people speechless but the night was ending and Yeosang hadn’t even noticed the effect it had as he went home without looking back.

If maybe they knew more about him, about his motives, aspirations and limitations up till now then maybe they'd understand. Yeosang was greedy and didn't want anyone else knowing about the treasure. But it wasn't even about  _ that _ . He could pass the changes in his life off as just making use of their academic program or something boring but valid like that, instead of mentioning the true reason. Or not even that much, just laying out the news a few months in advance, talking to them about the change or anything. 

Yeosang always struggled alone and they never pushed him to open up, they just helped where they could. But it hurt them that he didn't trust them with his problems, specially Chan that was so used to being a leader figure to his teammates, someone that they could trust more than anyone else.

No wonder a part of them now resented him. Yeosang didn't want to believe all this could be avoided so easily, that he fucked up so bad, but it was obvious that they weren't driven by completely malicious intent or at least Chan wasn't. They felt betrayed and if Yeosang was allowing himself to be such a greedy dumbass then who was he to judge if they wanted some form of revenge, specially when they didn't know what this all really meant to him. It was Yeosang that never shared it with them so he couldn't complain if they didn't consider his situation.

The phone buzzed besides his hand on the couch, showing notifications with Ryujin's nickname on the screen.

Opening it made Yeosang’s blood go cold. A collection of pictures flooded their chat with all of his "art pieces". Most of them showed him clearly spray painting over his homemade stencils or talking with someone else, an incriminating spray can on his hand. The last one was a selfie with him and Jeongin smiling at the camera clearly showing the colorfully painted wall of a building they clearly trespassed to get to behind them.

There was so many small crimes being committed in those pics that it made his head hurt. Nothing serious, only teenagers being rowdy, if you ignore the fact that Yeosang had his signature in graffiti all around the whole city by now and is definitely a priority case regarding vandalism for years now.

Honestly if he were caught, which was something he had to seriously consider now apparently, it wouldn't be the complete end of his life. He didn't really know how bad the punishment for all this would be, although you'd think he'd be well informed of the consequences of his actions after doing it so long. 

Completely breaking his mother heart, dragging his family into huge amount of legal debt and making his family reconsider supporting him through out college life, besides losing his courage to finally say he wanted to get into the arts field instead of something that would help him repay all the extra costs Yeosang caused his whole life was very anxiety inducing to say the least though.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I heard some rumors...” Yeosang had heard zero rumors, but there must be some, right? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had quite a few chapters done for a long while now, I just needed to get past the trouble that was writing the beginning to actually get into this fic and I finally did it!! But now that I'm actually posting it, I'm not sure how I actually feel about it??? I'm working on some other stuff that I feel is probably gonna come out better and is more what I want to put out there and show for my writing than this one.   
> But it's still a fun side piece to write, so I guess I just need to get out of my own head a bit and stop overthinking.

A few days had passed since he met up with Chan and Yeri, Yeosang was admittedly putting off for almost a whole week to talk about it with Wooyoung. He would’ve managed to ‘accidentally’ forget about it if they didn’t text him again. 

So Yeosang spent the first three classes thinking on a way to breach the subject with Wooyoung. He wasn’t sure what really was going on. He had his old friends pushing him to get involved, but to be honest as long as Wooyoung was safe and okay then he didn’t really feel like caring about it at all, it was none of his business,even if the secrecy rubbed the brunette the wrong way. 

However if it had something to do with the treasure it would do him good to investigate. Just to be sure it wouldn’t hinder his own plans. Whatever those plans were in detail now that he had seen the money in person, Yeosang wasn’t sure yet.

He really couldn’t think of a casual plausible way to bring this up in conversation so when his best friend sat in front of him at recess and started sipping on some bottled iced tea he just jumped straight into it.

“Look, I know you’re in a gang.” They were bffs, they could talk about anything, right?

“What?!” Wooyoung’s high pitched shriek, followed by him comically choking on his drink, brought a resistant smile to Yeosang’s face.

“The people you were with last Monday night, I know you’re all in a gang. You don’t need to lie to me anymore.” Yeosang explained it further.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His best friend avoided his eyes, still coughing with a scowl.

“I saw you in the field.” Yeosang accused him flatly.

“So it was you up there!” Wooyoung let out before realizing that didn’t help his case.

The younger quickly went back to avoiding his gaze, but Yeosang wasn’t letting up. A silence 

settled between them, untold arguments and whines being exchange as Wooyoung finally met the older’s eyes. A battle that Wooyoung knew he’d lose, as it often happened with the two best friends, the younger was used to just not being able to say no to Yeosang.

“Okay, I was out with a group of friends last Monday I admit, but it’s not what you think, we’re not a gang  _ gang _ . That’s ridiculous. Now my throat hurts, ugh.” He finally said it, but still tried denying evasively as tried appeasing his sore throat with a bite of his sandwich.

Getting the truth out of Wooyoung seemed surprisingly easy and that was comforting in its own way, for Yeosang to know the younger trusted him enough to not insist on secrecy. If only he didn't have ulterior motives he'd be touched, but in actuality the older wanted Wooyoung to put up more resistance, cut him off from that part of his life. Wooyoung was being naive, Yeosang mused bitterly.

“I mean do you get into fights often? Like physical fights?” Yeosang continued to prod.

“Well, yeah, I guess…” Wooyoung admitted defeated. “But we try to avoid it. It’s not like we are out there looking for people to punch, they are the ones that come to us looking for a fight. We’re innocent!” He tried defending himself.

“How about money, do you get money from anybody?” Yeosang asked giving him a look.

“Well, some teachers give us a little cash at the end of the year, but it’s not like that. It’s a gift, like a ‘job well done’ gift…”

“You’re in a gang, bro.” The older one deadpanned at that.

“It’s not like that.” Wooyoung was getting loudly whiny by now.

“I’d say you’re part of the mafia, if we were not both high school students.” Yeosang continued, only half sarcastic.

“Look, okay maybe it’s a “gang”. But it’s a good gang, like we’re the school guardians and stuff. We do good stuff. It’s fine.” Wooyoung gave up and accepted it while munching on some cookies, still making quotations in the air with his fingers at the word gang. Yeosang just rolled his eyes. “How did you even know? You just saw us in the soccer field and assumed we were there to fight?”

“You thought I wouldn’t notice? You’ve been so distant I knew something was up for a while now and with the things that happened this week...” Yeosang didn’t think this through too much, he couldn’t really say he heard it from their literal enemies.

“I also heard some rumors...” The older had heard zero rumors, but there must be some, right? 

“...and just ended up piecing it together, I guess. You could’ve told me, I thought we were best friends.” He ended with a pout and the emotional hit landed as he expected. Wooyoung’s expression saddened and you could see him trying to justify himself in his head. 

Not Yeosang’s proudest moment since he didn’t particularly mind if both of them kept secrets. They could tell each other everything, but they didn’t need to and that was something he appreciated about their friendship. 

And Yeosang had shared his secrets with people he trusted and was now lowkey getting blackmailed, so there was that. Sharing secrets proved itself to be a no no. But anyway the low blow worked, so he didn’t back down and continued to cement it.

“Just I’m here now, okay? You can talk to me about it if you need to. I’m always here for you no matter the situation and I want you to know that.” 

That wasn’t a lie, Wooyoung was precious to him and he could go along with anything if the other needed him to. Wooyoung never needed to tell him anything, but he never needed to hide anything either if he was truly in trouble.

“Yeah, I- I know that. Just give some time to think this over. Then we can talk about it.” Wooyoung had finished his cookies and decided to take his leave earlier than expected. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay.” Yeosang watched the other leave as he ate his own food. He wondered if he should be really prying into this, dreadful regret already settling in. It didn’t help that now he was alone for a long break to maul over his anxieties uninterruptedly.

»»———— ★ ————««

Yeosang’s classes finished early that day. Yet there he was at a teacher’s office yet again getting called out to see how he was settling in.

The teacher assigned to him, Eden the music teacher that doubled as a counselor for his grade, exchanged a few pleasantries and started going through a series of questions to check if the boy was fitting in without any trouble. He wrote down Yeosang’s answers dismissively as if scratching off a checklist of chores.

“So, now that you’re acquainted with your weekly schedule and all that, you gotta pick a club. Here’s a list and the application form. Just hand it in the student council office by the end of next week.“ He explained handing Yeosang the papers after he was done with the check in.

“Do I really need to be in a club?” Yeosang knew he sounded whiny, but he probably could use his time much better studying on his own.

“Yes, you really do, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before. They are important for your curriculum and help your academic records, you’ll thank us later. Since today is Friday, classes finish early for clubs to hold longer club activities. You can go around with those papers and ask to see into the ones that you’re interested in. Don’t forget to hand them in by next Friday. Do you have any doubts?” Eden continued to explain, without any breach for the boy to give excuses neither in his voice nor his attitude.

“I guess not.” 

The teacher really did mention this before, Yeosang had to visit him quite a few times in this two weeks he was there and the deadline was emphasized at every talk. He probably expected the boy to have his choice at the tip of his tongue by now. Yeosang hadn’t even considered it yet.

“Everything’s settled then. I’ll call you back by the end of the month to check again and then you’re officially done with the transfer process. If anything happens, could be anything that’s bothering you or if you have any doubts just come to my office. I’m always here to talk. And seriously, hand this in soon, okay?” the teacher reminded him as he got up to show Yeosang the door.

“Yeah, got it.” He didn’t get it, Yeosang wasn’t into anything on the list. He had scanned through it before and all clubs that both had something of his interest and could be useful for his “academic records” were marked as full. 

He looked at the top of the list to the art club again. He considered it before, but thought the trouble was not enough to excuse it to his mom at the end of the year, why he went the “hobby” route instead of something more useful. Yeosang guessed it was worth checking it out now though, just to have a look.

He eventually ended up in there after wandering aimlessly for awhile. Their room was huge and filled with students sitting around podiums, drawing inspiration from whatever was in display. The club leader welcomed him on a tour around it and explained how there were many different branches, how that place was only for activities like sketching and painting, and they had many other groups focused in many other art forms that he could join. Also how they held a gallery event every few months and how the school had connections with big names that came to check on their personal works once in a while.

And it was a dream for Yeosang, it really was. 

Until they stopped by a group that were talking about the latest graffiti art that was displayed on a building you could see clearly from the bridge leading to the campus entrance. One Yeosang had done not even a month before class started.

They nitpicked about the style, the color usage, the line work. They seemed to have fun pulling it apart and analyzing it. Yeosang deflated a bit at that, many thoughts racing through his head and then it was clear that he couldn’t be at the art club. Showing his work around this people made him uneasy. Specially since the distinct style it held might be recognized.

He asked around for a bit more after that. Most other clubs involved participating in plenty of competitions, it seemed to be standard to have monthly evaluations and such on both physical and academic types. Dance, theater, art and stuff like that were spared in turn to put on a show. 

Nothing really interested him enough to be worth the trouble so he just slowly made his way back to the dorm. On his way he got a text from Wooyoung to meet him at his own club. Which was just where he was coming from. 

Now he had to go all the way back, Yeosang let out a sigh at that. The text implied Wooyoung felt like opening up more though, he couldn’t miss that.

**6:17 p.m**

**Woo**

hey im really sorry about earlier

i thought it would be better if you just met everybody

then the gang could explain it to you better

the group not the gang

its not a gang

they agreed

we’re all free in like half an hour

if you wanna come

if you dont is fine idc

i dont mind

is okay

i just thought you know why not

lol

_ read _

  
  


**6:17 p.m**

**You**

i’ll be there don’t worry go back to class

  
  


**7:00 p.m**

**Woo**

okay ;)


	5. District 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s all in favor of a good and safe environment for all of us.” Seonghwa added calmly.
> 
> “Yeah, now we don’t even have to beat anybody up anymore too, just intimidate them a little and is done.”

Yeosang waited by a bench close to the arts building for Wooyoung. It was late afternoon and the sky was a dark orange that was steadily losing its brightness. He was finally about to get some answers on what his best friend had gotten himself into and it made him nervous.

It was always better to know than to not know, but his meeting with Chan and Yeri made him wish that time stopped and he could just live in ignorance of what was happening around him for some time. He looked at the sky and sighed thinking about how he didn’t wanna go through the trouble of getting involved in it at all.

Soon a flux of people started to leave the building slowly filling the surrounding grass field. The shorter boy showed up not too long after flashing him a smile, wasting no time with greeting him and pulling him by the hand towards the next building over, hallways empty and lights off inside.

“Don’t need to worry so much Sangie, we’ll just explain ourselves, since you wanted to know, and then we can forget about it again.” Wooyoung said smile faltering as he noticed the tension in Yeosang’s face. “We can go grab coffee after this, the coffee shop across the street has this really nice chocolate cake I’m sure you’ll love it.” In his insistence to calm Yeosang it made clear that Wooyoung himself was also fidgeting and brimming with worry.

They reached the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a classroom door.

“Look, no matter what you hear, you know me, okay? I don’t want this to change our friendship. I’ve kept some secrets, but...” Wooyoung started, but got cut off midway.

“Wooyoung, it’s fine. Nothing will change. I promise.” Yeosang answered and he was

serious about it. He had his own secrets too, he couldn’t judge. Truth be told Yeosang would pretend he had seen nothing that night, if he wasn’t being pushed to investigate.

“Okay, good, if you’re promising me then I believe you.” Wooyoung answered more to himself than anyone else, taking a deep breath and going for the door.

There were people already waiting in the inside, the light from the outside dusk shining on them, tainting the room a contrast of darkness and orange that didn't make it any easier to see their faces.

The desks and chairs were positioned in a circular manner with an odd pair of chairs in the middle. The people inside the room were scattered around, three of them sat on chairs around the circle, another leaned against the far back wall instead of taking a seat and the last one sat on top of the teacher’s table in the front of the room. 

Wooyoung closed the door after them and pulled him into the circle, taking a sit on one of the chairs positioned there and Yeosang followed him sitting by his side. The circular setting was really overwhelming, feeling all eyes on him from every side made him want to crawl into himself and disappear, but the brunette manage to put on his unbothered poker face as usual.

He recognized the person directly in front of him from a bunch of Wooyoung’s selfies and from across campus, his name was San, if Yeosang wasn’t mistaken. It clicked to Yeosang now that he was also the guy that called Wooyoung away on that first day, he couldn’t quite see his eyes right now and match the gaze that stood out to him that day, the light coming from the window behind only casting a deeper shadow over his frame, but from the way he held himself he just knew it was him.

At first he was expecting to be introduced to San as soon as he got to the school, considering how much Wooyoung mentioned him, but it made sense that his best friend wouldn’t if the boy was part of this. 

A stray thought wanted to blame this boy right in front of him, wanted to judge his best friend for getting dragged by bad influences, but he of all people really could not. Not when his own friends were expecting a spy report from him at that same moment.

“Took you long enough.” The person to his right, the one sat in front of the class, started speaking and Yeosang had to turn himself around to face him. “I’m Hongjoong, the leader here. Wooyoung told us you are aware of our little organization, so I thought we’d explain it to you before you heard from someone else and got the wrong idea.”

Hongjoong certainly presented well the leader title in his posture and his attitude, the way he sat on the high table vaguely reminding Yeosang of a bandit sitting on top of a pile of gold while talking down to his underlings about raiding a village or something of the sort.

A very random image for the moment, but completely fitting the short man that looked at him with piercing eyes. As he continued, nothing he said was particularly intimidating, yet the way Hongjoong looked at him as he spoke made Yeosang the slightest bit frightened. He also couldn’t not notice his fashion style. It stood out from the rest in a way that he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Someone else spoke up with a tone that held untold disapproval, a person by his right that Yeosang now recognized as Seonghwa, the person that took in his papers at the school office.

“It’s not really an organization, we are merely a group of students that came together by coincidence. You could say we just all have the same goals, although we may differ in methods.” The pointed look Seonghwa was giving Hongjoong didn’t pass unnoticed. 

Soon he also recognized Yunho and Mingi, more council members Yeosang came to know the past week, the former sitting besides San and the latter at Yeosang’s back leaving only one in the circle boy without a name.

“Yes and we can sum our reasons to form this group into three objectives, so let me make it very clear for you.” Hongjoong started explaining. “First, it’s to set some rule to the school.” 

“It’s a pretty upscale place and the students here have some really influential parents, so, as you’d expect, no one really gets punished when something more serious happens. This place used to be really problematic.” Seonghwa started painting the picture before Hong took over again.

“Bullying, theft, vandalism, drugs, even stupid dangerous dares, you name it. We just got fed up with it and after a few years of acting very strategically against it we built ourselves enough of a reputation that everyone thinks twice before doing anything.” The leader summed up.

“I mean most students don’t know about us for real, but we still got that covered with rumors and such.” San commented.

“We got some connections to spread them for us and in turn we solve most of their problems, so it’s a win win situation for everybody. They also report if they see any red flags and point people our way if they need help with something that calls for our involvement. We practically became like one of those scary mysteries that old schools have. The spooky guardians of KQ High.” Wooyoung explained it further with a chuckle from besides Yeosang, sounding a bit proud of himself.

“It’s all in favor of a good and safe environment for all of us and the teachers tend to turn a blind eye to our cause as well. They seem to be relieved that it’s not in their hands anymore.” Seonghwa added calmly.

“Yeah, now we don’t even have to beat anybody up anymore too, just intimidate them a little and is done.” The younger looking boy behind Yeosang said opening his mouth for the first time and Yeosang startled both at the sound of his voice and his words, the boy earning a shush from both Yunho and Mingi and a facepalm from Hongjoong. 

“That’s the first one, got it? We’re basically the law around here.” Hongjoong asked, his gaze sharp on Yeosang as the other nodded. “Second it’s to protect our territory.” 

“It’s practically the same as the first one but we gotta think of it in a different way. This school is a boarding school so we all live here, go the same places and need a permission to be allowed to go out of campus. And then the school has all this clubs that are actively encouraged to compete in every damn competition possible and raise their reputation.” 

“You can imagine how much rivalry we have accumulated over the years. Knowing that we’re basically trapped here and the campus is completely open to outsiders you can conclude that we got picked on a lot by other schools. Specially by other sport teams like what you saw last week.” Hongjoong continued on explaining. 

“We make it a point to greet them before the games if they are in our problematic list.” The unknown boy talked again.

“It used to be pretty chaotic here before we started keeping track of the people that came in around our age, students would be so tense close to events even if they had nothing to do with it and the businesses around always got filled with complaints. Now no one even gives it a second thought anymore.” Seonghwa tried to explain it further.

It made sense for the council president to be involved, Yeosang concluded. Whatever they did to stop conflict and complains, through violence or not, should make the older’s workload ten times lighter that was for sure.

“Because you’re so close to Wooyoung it will do you good to pay more attention and try not get yourself caught up in this, try not to get in trouble and stay out of our way, okay?” Hongjoong said dismissively, a foot swinging from the table as he remained perched on it like a cat. 

_ Rude _ , Yeosang thought.

“What he means is that, since you now understand the situation, we can protect you better if anything happens, but you should still be careful nonetheless.” Seonghwa tried saying it more softly.

“Mhm, and what about the third goal?” Yeosang asked wanting to move on from the topic of himself quickly.

Most faces that he could spot looked uneasy at his question. Probably mentioning the number of goals was a slip up on the leader’s part. Lucky Yeosang.

“That’s nothing that concerns outsiders. I think that’s all, we’re done explaining now.” Hongjoong was quick to deflect, making a move to get up from the table he was sitting at.

"Well, you might as well tell me your third goal, because I want in." Yeosang really didn’t at all, but he needed more info than that, nothing of what was said was particularly useful regarding the treasure situation yet. It was good to be aware of how this school really worked, but it wasn't nearly enough for his situation.

"What? Why? We don't really need an extra hand or anything. Don't get yourself into this stuff just because you're curious, you’ll only be a burden." Hongjoong seemed caught by surprise, his tone becoming annoyed by the end of the phrase.

They started to go back and forth with Yeosang pleading excuses and Hongjoong just shooting him down, costing them a few minutes. But Kang Yeosang was in every sense of the word a complete brat. 

He didn't get satisfied unless things went completely his way and that gave him the strength to put aside his anxiety and lace what would be otherwise perceived as whines with enough decisiveness to assert himself. 

He was a complete mess when it came to making friends, utterly useless talking one on one, in fact he even had trouble ordering food for himself for goodness sake. But. The one thing he could do was look up to a crowd and give a perfect speech, make unreasonable demands and make it sound completely plausible and undeniable, make himself the right one in every situation. 

That's how he survived group projects. That's how he got parental consent to anything he wanted. How everyone thought of him as an angel, a good model citizen that might just be a step above everyone. And that would be how Yeosang would insert himself in this group.

"Okay, it's very simple. Either I'm in or Wooyoung is out. I know him well enough to know he won't quit it if I just tell him to and he clearly can't be trusted to keep himself safe, much less alive if he made such poor decisions that lead him to join a violent gang at the age of 16 for absolutely no valid reason.” Yeosang was exaggerating? Perhaps, but they were the ones that gave him leeway to.

“So the only solution is for me to join and make sure he survives until graduation at least, or else… If I can't join I'll make sure he will be useless for you. I promise that." He managed to make his voice firm and clear, and was ready to continue his speech and empty threats for another hour if need be.

It didn't come as a surprise when Hongjoong looked at him incredulous, eyebrow twitching slightly as he fought to keep his dignified composure and form an answer that didn't go Yeosang's way. The giggles that came from the back of the room on his left were completely unexpected tho.

"Come on Joongie, it's been a while since someone left you speechless like that, I'm sure you can find some use to Yeosang. I like him."

Hongjoong only looked even more annoyed at the nickname Seonghwa used to appeal to him between laughs. A frown placed itself on his lips, his eyebrows scrunched together and his gaze directed towards the ceiling. Suddenly it was very clear that his attitude as a leader looking down on his tools was a very well crafted facade that the blue-haired boy couldn't uphold for long. Even his tone turned childish when he said his next words.

"You can have him them if you like him so much. He can join as your underling I don't care, just don't bother me later when I give you a task you don't like. It's not like our third goal is such a big revelation anyway, we're just doing what everybody else has been for years." Hongjoong voice started louder than normal in a tantrum, but slowly faded as he went on till it was clear he wasn't gonna continue on.

And it was a gamble really. Yeosang got involved with many not-very-legal stuff during the last few years of school, but joining a gang wasn't really something he wanted to be part of. 

The third goal could very well not be related at all with the treasure he had in mind. As much as they flaunted their moral high ground up until now, that could be easily overruled by all the violence involved since it was still sort of a gang.

The first two goals themselves were worrying enough, there could be some bad bullying involved, extortion, worse... For a third one there still could have some over the top activities like selling drugs and such that he wouldn’t put past delinquent high schoolers no matter how high end this place was. Yeosang's mind couldn't quite clearly define worse outcomes, although he was sure there were plenty and that in itself was worrisome.

Yet Yeosang's lived with anxiety and worst case scenarios playing in his head for long enough in his life, he could proudly say he progressed enough to sometimes just say yolo and go with his instincts. 

Of course this was the worse case scenario to apply such progress and he was definitely making a bad decision, but oh well you don't really choose when to fuck up. Or do you? That sounded wrong, so Yeosang just shrugged off the train of thought. 

He had to report something to Chan anyway, if he could take the other’s mind off the treasure with something else that'd be great. Specially if it meant he stopped being butthurt at Yeosang's life decisions and accepted him back without the whole attitude.

And. Above all else. He wasn't completely lying and manipulating when he said what he said. Yeosang wasn't completely honest too, if Wooyoung jumped off a cliff was he supposed to follow him or go first or something? Of course not. Wooyoung's dumb decisions were his cross to carry and Yeosang didn't want any of it. 

_ But _ . 

_ If  _ he had to jump off a cliff.

_If_ _he had to_ place his trust on anyone he knew.

Which he never would, trust was only potential false hope people projected onto each other carelessly and yeah, Yeosang had trust issues, he knew that.

But if he had to place that trust on someone then Wooyoung would always be first on the list. He would always trust Wooyoung a little more above anyone else, even if he tried his best to deny it to himself. 

And if being there with him made Wooyoung's just a little bit safer and the burden of his dumb decisions just a little bit lighter then that comforted Yeosang. It made him believe that this was a good decision whatever the outcome, because Wooyoung did the same decision and was there with him and he could be someone Wooyoung could rely on.

Not that he was gonna try hard at all to be reliable or anything, but the thought was cute. At least that was what he promised himself. Helping Wooyoung had no weight in his decision and he was definitely not worried about his very beautiful but obnoxious friend getting his face punched in and getting seriously hurt. No no no, that'd be absurd, since when he worried about others at all? Focus Yeosang, focus.

The anticipation could be seen on his own stance, the way Yeosang’s shoulders were tense and he inhaled deeper and longer, his mind going off on a circular tangent of assorted scenarios and over analytical commentary while waiting for someone to continue from where Hongjoong drifted off.

"So I'm sure you heard about the treasure hidden in the school..."

Yeosang's head turned to Yunho a little too fast than he wish it did and the tension pounding his head immediately dissipated when he heard the word treasure, shoulders slouching with relief.

"Everyone knows about it, so it makes it easier on us if you already know it too." Yunho makes an expectant pause and Yeosang nods. "So you must've heard that whenever people go after this treasure they get stopped by some "guardian" students that wanna keep the treasure hidden and upkeep the patrimonial legend or whatever silly version of the story you've heard..." Yunho did air quotes with his finger and the mockery in his tone rose as he continued.

"Some people say we just want to keep it all to ourselves." Mingi commented from somewhere behind Yeosang.

"Are those people wrong though?" snorted Hongjoong.

"They wouldn’t be if only we had the damn treasure." Mingi said sounding pretty annoyed.

"Way to ruin my dramatic storytelling..." Now Yunho was the one sounding annoyed.

The circular set up they had with Yeosang in the middle was very overwhelming again and he instinctively reached for Wooyoung's hand besides him just trying to grab onto something to try grounding himself. 

Not really an intentional act, but Wooyoung looked at him with a sympathetic smile, squeezed his hand and suddenly he was calmer. Just a little bit. It felt like a lifetime since he had Wooyoung to fall back into, like when they were younger.

"So, yeah, we are the ones stopping everyone else from going after the treasure." Yunho continued.

"Which is a very honorable and necessary task in itself, regardless of any treasure." Seonghwa made sure to emphasize.

"Really these kids are such savages, if we didn't stop them the school would be in ruins by now." Mingi interrupted very loudly explaining Seonghwa’s point further, exaggerating his words with a pout and Yeosang even made the effort to nod his head in understanding, not resisting his glossy eyes.

"And!" Yunho continued, very loudly annoyed at being stopped in his tracks a third time. "While we really are stopping everyone else from even trying, we don't actually know where is it or what it is. We are just defending our territory like a deathmatch mode in a video game. We are hunting for the treasure too, just like everyone else and using the distance we created as leverage so that everybody focus on us and not any actual leads."

"Yes, and that's what actually sets us apart from this headless chickens running around trying to tear the school apart brick by brick. We have actual leads and a strategy to follow. We actually have a chance." Hongjoong said crossing his arms a bit of his superior air and his fierce eyes coming back a little as he boasted.

Yeosang wasn't a good actor, but he had such a immutable resting bitch face that he never had to try too hard. He rose his eyebrows once or twice at the right times, inclined his head in thought a bit, nodded and hoped that was enough to not let out that he had already figured as much from the moment they confirmed the third goal was about the treasure. 

Yeosang had moved the treasure after all and Wooyoung saw him in the crime scene. With them meeting rivals not too long ago, if their group actually knew where the treasure was they would’ve check on it and realized it was missing. The atmosphere now would be very different if that was the case.

And to be honest Yeosang had forgotten there was a collective force keeping people away from the treasure. It wasn't part of the treasure's real origin story and while it did played a big part in the more recent tales, as most other details he shrugged it off. 

People didn't know where to find the treasure. He did. He hadn’t needed to pay attention to new made up details that didn’t actually played any part in his plan, Yeosang just needed to wait for a breach to get to it and get his prize the hell out. And he did. No one had expected it and he had based his plans so much on the element of time and surprise that he honestly forgot about a group that attached to the whole story until then.

Now it was clear to Yeosang that he hadn’t won just yet, not until all that money was either used up or in the bank. He needed to stall both these guys and his old friends until then.

The meeting ended at Hongjoong’s whim, the older already too disgruntled at the decisions forced on him to share anything beyond the bare minimum. Yeosang couldn’t say he was happy, but he was satisfied for now. Specially seeing how the corners of Wooyoung’s lip were turning up as they made their way out of the building together, an unadmitted smile much too obviously trying to surface. Yes, Yeosang was satisfied.


	6. Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took him a lot of will power to hold his giggles until he was outside. The look on Seonghwa’s face was priceless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's definitely on the shorter side this chapter, I apologize. But I do have a more lengthy one planned next that wouldn't make sense having that part start in this one, so I ended up making the executive decision of cutting it short and just compensating later. I do remember saying this story would have shorter chapters than I usually make tho... But sorry anyways, haha.

Yeosang was tired as hell since he stayed up all night, foregoing sleep to instead look through his and Wooyoung’s texting history. There wasn’t much to see for the last few years since they were both busy with their own problems, they both sucked at keeping in contact and met often enough to not text that frequently, nonetheless Yeosang hoped to find something he missed now that he knew the situation the other was going through. 

He managed to gather a few details about Wooyoung’s relationship with the group, although Yeosang could only assume. San was mentioned a lot in a fond way, something that Yeosang was already well aware of. He could point out the probable time of when the other met Hongjoong even though the leader was never mentioned. The student council member that Wooyoung would go out of his way to annoy now had a name and a face and he felt sorry to Seonghwa for all the pranks he had heard about in the past. 

One of the tall boys, Yunho or Mingi, was newer and had transferred in the middle of last year, just like him. He couldn’t find anything about Jongho, but considering how quiet the other boy seemed to be during their first and only meeting he wasn’t surprised. There wasn’t much else to go on, but he felt less on edge with every bit of knowledge he got.

Tired or not though, he had to figure out the issue with his club application, getting called into Eden’s office more times than necessary was not something he looked forward to. After class he made his way again to the school office area and into the council room. 

There sat Seonghwa on the end of a meeting table with Mingi and Yunho on each side, the warm sunlight coming from the window giving the space a warm and cozy atmosphere. The table however was filled with stacks of paper and you could tell even from afar that the two tall boys were bored out of their minds. He knocked weakly on the doorframe to announce his arrival.

“Come in.” Seonghwa looked up smiling at him.

Yeosang approached the table slowly, already readying his excuses.

“For why do I owe the pleasure of your presence here, dear?” Seonghwa asked softly. Mingi snickered a bit at his overly formal words and swiftly got kicked under the table by the elder.

“I was told to hand in this paper for the club application, but I haven’t really seen any that I wanna be a part of. I just came to say that.” It would be great if he could be let off with just that.

“I’m sorry Yeosang, but it’s obligatory to be in a club. You’ll need to decide on one till the end of the day.” Seonghwa looked almost apologetic. Almost. Yeosang wanted to wipe out that impersonal smile of his face and demand to be let off that waste of time, but managed to back off without letting his emotions show through. Win some, lose some, Yeosang knew when and how to choose his battles.

“Which means you should hurry, we stop working in like two hours.” Mingi was quick to point it out while laying back on his chair.

“I can wait if you need more time, I alway stay overtime anyways.” Seonghwa said dismissively. “They are worth 10% of all your grades, more depending on what you pick, so choose wisely.” 

If you put it like that there were no real excuses he could give. Yeosang looked a little lost standing there in thought.

“If you have nowhere else to go just keep us company until you decide, you’ll have to come back anyway.” Mingi spoke up again, balancing himself on the chairs hinder legs as he looked up at the ceiling. His chair wobbled suddenly, giving him a fright and earning a scolding from the elder, telling him to stop slacking and go back to work.

“Is it really okay if I stay a bit?” He just wanted to finish this up as quick as he could. As shy as he still was around them, going out and back just to half heartedly write something down didn’t seem worth the trouble.

“Yeah, we also can answer any questions you have about the clubs on the list.” Yunho answered cheerfully, eyes not leaving the paper sheet he was writing on.

“Which club are you in?” Yeosang asked pulling the chair next to the taller boy and placing his papers in front of him quite like his first day there.

“The pro-gaming club.”

Yeosang couldn’t hide the surprise from his face at Yunho’s response.

“What?” Yunho asked confused at the reaction, as if his response was a normal one. Yeosang last school’s computers barely could run a browser, all ancient by now, but of course this fancy school had to have top notch gaming systems, it was hard for him not to scorn at the thought.

“I just didn’t know that was a club, I thought they were all more academic focused or something like that, specially since you get a grade from it.” He answered and Yunho laughed a bit at that.

“Yeah, it’s a more of a recent one and it was a pain to get it recognized. We got to keep participating in tournaments every other month to keep it open and most of our budget comes from the prizes we get from those competitions. I’m not on the main team though, so i can just sit at my dorm room playing around all day.”

“Wait, you don’t even have to show up at the clubroom?”

“Yeah, since it’s something I can do from any pc, I just appear for team try outs and stuff that is obligatory. There’s lot of loopholes like these in most clubs if you don’t want extra school work, I can help you look through the list and point them out if you want.”

Maybe it was petty of Yeosang to get a little bit bitter at that, about how he had to show up to classes that weren’t even obligatory to just stay afloat, else he might get kicked out, or about how his hand-me-down notebook couldn’t run any of the popular games he would hear about without overheating in a couple of hours. Yes, it was petty, but knowing it was petty didn’t stop him from feeling some type of way even though he didn’t say anything.

“Maybe I could get into the same club.”

“The pro-gaming club is unfortunately full already, these types of club always have a limit to stop too many lazy students from getting in.” Seonghwa informed looking up from his duties again in a patronizing voice. “Although I myself would not be able to keep up with running the student council, if I was not in a more laid black club as well. The astronomy club I’m in accepts applications every month if you want I can hold your papers till the next one.”

“Don’t let him trick you, the physics homework they get is horrible, the rooftop is too cold at night around this time of the year and you have to stay up all night every other day. They have monthly tryouts cuz everyone that gets in regrets it soon enough. I didn’t last a week in it.” Mingi commented leaning forward. Seonghwa shot him the dirtiest look Yeosang had ever seen, but that didn’t seem to phase the youngest. 

Yeosang looked back at Mingi almost expectantly, a bit too shy to ask him about his own club. The tall boy still looked a bit too intimidating for shy Yeosang.

“I’m exempted from club activities since I work part time at the library.” The youngest said after realizing it was his turn.

“The jobs around campus are distributed by the school, students can apply online. The waiting list is ridiculously long though, I doubt you’d get anything this year if you applied now.” Seonghwa chimed in, answering before Yeosang even had the chance to ask the question.

“I doubt you’d get anything ever, I have friends that applied in middle school and are still waiting.” Yunho said rolling his eyes.

“I see… It’d be perfect for me if I could work instead of getting into one of these.” Yeosang sighed and went back to looking at the list of clubs in front of him. After a few minutes past a thought struck him though. 

Wooyoung told him about a new student that caught his attention last year. Tall and a little intimidating that he soon found out was easily scared which made the other laugh about many times afterwards, he had read that last night, hadn’t he?

It was either Yunho or Mingi and he was leaning towards Mingi right now. He hadn’t seen the other scared yet, but he was indeed intimidating and Yunho last comment…

“Did all of you always studied here?” Yeosang asked testing the waters, a little hesitant as he tried to sound nonchalant.

“I’ve studied here since elementary school.” answered Yunho stretching his arms above his head.

“I transferred last year.” Mingi answered scratching his head without looking up from the task in front of him. Seonghwa paled visibly as he turned to Yeosang and they exchanged a look, Yeosang’s head tilting innocently as if he hadn’t hit jackpot waiting for his answer.

“I’ve been here since kindergarten. You know the council has been flooded with work lately if you rather help out instead I’m sure we could settle something about your club hours.” Seonghwa answered quietly, focusing on moving papers around. Yeosang imagined he was praying to God Yeosang didn’t notice the discrepancy right there.

“That would be great for me.” Yeosang tried not to sound too excited, holding back so much at the sight of Yunho and Mingi’s heads turning to look at the older in surprise. “What I should write down on my paper then?”

“You can just leave it there and I’ll see to it myself.” Seonghwa muttered, still avoiding his eyes as he tried to appear busy.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll still apply online for those job applications you told me, if I could get that as well it would be perfect.” Yeosang said getting up and going towards the door. He shot Seonghwa a last look and a smile before waving goodbye. 

“Do we really need more people in the council, hyung?” he could hear Yunho’s confused voice behind the door he just closed.

It took him a lot of will power to hold his giggles until he was outside. The look on Seonghwa’s face was priceless. Yeosang hoped he took the hint and took care of his job application as well. He probably would though with how fast he picked up on Mingi’s mistake. 

It would have been bothersome if Yeosang had to come out and say something, then he would be seen as the bad guy, but if that was Seonghwa’s way of distracting or keeping Yeosang quiet then it worked out great, he’d take the bribe any day. Being around the council and Seonghwa seemed useful as well, as it had just been proven to Yeosang being a member had its perks. No wonder Hongjoong kept the older close.

Speaking of the devil, Yeosang buzzed with a message.

**unknown**

**6:45 pm**

It’s hongjoong

meet me at that same classroom tomorrow at nine pm

if u don’t show up i’ll assume u want out


	7. Awkward Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeosang kept quiet just waiting for Hongjoong to continue, knowing that any wrong word would be incriminating evidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I officially admit this fic has no update schedule anymore. The next two chapters are already done and in the proofreading stage though, I had them done for a while and just needed to finish this one.

Yeosang walked back to that one classroom where they all gathered the other day. He wondered if someone in the group had classes there or if it was a permanently vacant room. Either way it was empty when he arrived, only Hongjoong sat there atop of the teachers table, a leg up as he rested his head over his knee in wait.

Yeosang's arrival didn't perturb him, the leader just oozed confidence all around, smirking at Yeosang's appearance like he relinquished the fact that the younger did what he was told by showing up. 

Yeosang didn't like it. He never had any problem with authority, obeying orders and following rules was a given to get anywhere, that was how he saw that aspect of life. But Hongjoong's attitude just had him feeling the slightest bit petty, like he wanted to disobey just to prove a point. 

Maybe if it wasn't for Wooyoung being involved in all this, Yeosang would not mind doing what he was being blackmailed to do as much. Maybe he wouldn’t have to be blackmailed to start with, that was just how much of a will to be a complete brat Hongjoong invoked in him.

A familiar setting of saturated orange shades and deep dark shadows had fallen upon the room. Hongjoong didn't bother turning on the lights or motioning for Yeosang to sit. The senior started talking right away, clear in his haste that he didn't plan to spend much time in this meeting.

"Quite a stunt you pulled the other day, huh?" Was Hongjoong’s starting phrase and Yeosang froze not quite sure what he was referring to, had he been found out or was this about forcing his way into their circle? "I know what you want, don't think you can fool me."

Yeosang kept quiet just waiting for him to continue, knowing that any wrong word would be incriminating evidence. The older couldn’t have guessed anything about him already, could he? He had to push down his anxiety and focus on keeping a straight face.

"You want the treasure, right? Probably transferred all the way just to look for it. I don't know if you got any hints out of Wooyoung or if you found out about us all by yourself, but that's what this is all about. Or am I wrong?" Hongjoong went on a tirade of accusations, the air of superiority in his tone, as if he knew it all and could see right through Yeosang had the older holding his tongue to talk back.

And the older wasn't wrong. But he also was not right. Yeosang had already gotten the treasure and he didn't even consider their little group, his victory was fair and square, completely unrelated to them.

He struggled to find words, unsure what answer would benefit him here. Should he lie and try to appear innocent? Like he didn’t even think about the treasure before coming here? Or was it better to go along with it, pretend he was still hunting for it? To cement the idea that the treasure was not with him, still out there somewhere? Thankfully Hongjoong continued before he was forced to make a choice.

"Just because Wooyoung trusts you, doesn't mean I do. None of us do, don't get tricked by Seonghwa. He vouched for you because he’s the type to keep his enemies close, where he can keep an eye on them. A stupid strategy if you ask me." Now Hongjoong showed his claws, without holding back on the cutting honesty when away from the pressure of his circle and rolling his eyes at Seonghwa’s mention.

Yeosang was glad for it, he would have much more trouble playing the council president’s game of fake kindness and hidden intentions. Yeosang relayed too much in what people saw him as, his cold dignified persona, but in truth he did not have enough of a social sense to go along beyond what was logical.

Hongjoong going out of his way to show their distrust for him made it all easier, now they were all on the same page and Yeosang was the one that’d end up holding all the cards if he continued acting this way.

"But I'll relent this one time and take Wooyoung's word. We might consider having you, if you're worthy of our trust that is." The older spoke again with a sigh, lifting up his arms in defeat as he put his knee down and readjusted himself in the makeshift seat.

Yeosang didn't understand the direction this was going. If Hongjoong called him here to point out the fact that he had hidden motives, that they  _ didn't trust _ him, then why would he be willing to accept him so easily? He contradicted himself by saying Wooyoung's vote of confidence had no value and then immediately backtracking by using it as a reason to keep him around.

Yeosang tried to think quickly before Hongjoong had the chance to corner him and flee the scene. They needed him. Hongjoong was trying to intimidate him, make him believe he was in trouble and they were the ones doing him a favor. It was backfiring.

"You and Seonghwa are going to graduate next." Yeosang spit out the first detail that he could think of that might be posing an issue, speaking for the first time since he got there.

Hongjoong froze the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, a miniscule flaw that fought to not to let itself show, but it's too late and Yeosang already viciously caught up to it.

"You're running out of time and you're stuck. You're letting me in because you don't know what else to do next." Yeosang tried piecing it together, words barely making sense to his own ears as they rushed out of his mouth. if he didn’t get a piece of the truth out Hongjoong was going to have the upper hand at whatever he wanted Yeosang for and he wouldn’t allow himself to fully be under his control, not the leader that snarkly tried to intimidate him at every corner. Being blackmailed was enough already, he wouldn’t open space for more.

A long pause stretched after he aired out his thoughts, Hongjoong starting a staring match Yeosang would've lost had it been any other time but there, when he knew he was right and knew he couldn't back down, couldn't show weakness.

"We aren't in that much of a rush, there's still well over a year before us two graduate mind you." Hongjoong finally backs away with another sigh, leaning back onto his hands. "We do however worry about the future, beyond just the treasure. And when we do find it we already have a settlement on how to share it, if it's anything sharable that is. A bit unfair to just push your way in, do nothing and still get the prize don't you think?"

Ah, so that’s what was what he wasn’t being told. They wanted new members eventually, real members that’d go along with their little twisted justice and didn’t question their orders, but they didn’t want to share which would leave them at a deadlock. Yeosang didn’t fit in in neither category, but that was what they got and now they needed to adapt. Or rather make Yeosang adapt.

"We are kinda stuck, but we do have a lead. And that brings us to what I called you here for.” Hongjoong didn’t hold back now that he had nothing to hide in his intentions, proving Yeosang right. “I'm giving you the chance to prove yourself, and if you plan to really stick around, even after there's no treasure, then you have to start learning to do things our way."

The leader then pulled something out of his coat pocket to hand him. It was a small piece of thick parcel paper with squares on it, like a bingo cartel but every spot empty. Yeosang strained to look through it in the dimming light, the sky now already relying solely on moonlight instead.

"I'll pass you around each member whenever there's a mission. They're open to test you however they see fit. If you're approved you get a stamp. Simple, right?” Hongjoong almost chuckled at the disgruntled face Yeosang couldn’t stop himself from making and continued with a smirk. “We tend to do things unanimously here, no pushing through and making demands like you've been doing since you got here. What do you say?"

Yeosang had to take a deep breath to compose himself. This was going to be a drag and he wanted to groan at the thought. He’d have his revenge at Chan and Yeji for this in time, but for now it was virtually this or facing the police on their side, so what choice did he have?

“Got it.” Yeosang mumbled, trying not to clench his jaw and failing miserably.

“So you  _ can _ behave, huh?” Hongjoong smirked back at him before getting up. “Good. We’re done here then, you can just wait for your orders. Don’t look for us during school hours with this business, we’ll come to you.”

And with that he left, not looking back, leaving Yeosang in the dark room to muse the fate ahead of him. Yeosang stepped up to the teacher’s table and sat where the other sat a minute ago. It was high, easy to look down at someone, easy to appear taller. An illusion of power that hit both sides.


	8. Work Hard by DKB

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeosang thought back to his sketchbook, the spray cans lying forgotten at his old hideout and the campfire site by the side of the road. Couldn’t exactly say anything about that, could he?

Seonghwa’s part of their silent deal came through not even a week later, and suddenly Yeosang had a job at a small cafe a ways off the sports complex. Yeosang's job was actually pretty good in terms of hours and paid better than he expected. He only had to show up three times a week and some part of him incredulously wondered if the open spot was made for him. No way Seonghwa had that much power inside the school to purposefully overstaff one of their facilities on a whim though, right? 

Because that was what the place undeniably was, Yeosang was allowed to grab extra shifts and cover for someone else, but the coffee shop was so overstaffed that it was highly unlikely to ever happen. The scholarship student thought it was ridiculous how these rich kids were out here getting these jobs easy like that just to escape doing extra school work, but he was well aware the sentiment was bitter and maybe a bit petty of him, so he tried not to blame them all too much. Yeosang himself was also trying to escape schoolwork, after all, the only difference was that the money was actually important for him.

His first few days were nerve-wracking even though they were only reserved for coaching on how to talk to clients and training through the process of making the beverages, but the prospect of talking to people that often had him antsy all over. Nonetheless, that was what his choices brought him too, money over his comfort now so that later it could be the opposite. The very first day he was handling the front of the house though, someone had to appear and make it even more daunting of a task.

“Hey! I heard you got a job here so I came to cheer you on with Wooyoungie! He’s gonna be super late though, is it alright to wait here?” San asked looking up to him from his seat at a booth by the window with a warm smile that made dimples form at the corner of his mouth and his eyes scrunch into crescents. It was as if the sun that the younger basked in was radiating from him himself and it made Yeosang’s cheeks heat up for no reason

Looking around it was pretty empty still, so the older one just nodded figuring it was fine. “Do you plan to wait for him before you order?” Yeosang asked the personification of sunshine in front of him while holding his notepad.

“A pumpkin spice latte, and yes with coconut milk please.” San recited, answering Yeosang’s scripted question before the sound even left him. Yeosang closed his mouth and nodded again walking back to the counter. He handed one of his coworkers his order and sat in a high chair waiting while she made it. 

“Is he your friend?¨ Onda, the cheerful girl in charge of brewing the coffee that day, asked while preparing the drink.

“Friend of a friend,” Yeosang answered, his voice lower than usual, hyper-aware of anyone, or more specifically San, hearing him. Was San considered a friend by default? Wooyoung seemed to love the guy, so Yeosang didn’t doubt for a second he’d have to at least learn to tolerate his presence. It always took Yeosang a bit too much time to consider someone a friend though.

“Huh, is that so? I feel like I’ve seen him before, maybe around the crafts club?” she continues without looking up.

“He looks cute.” Aisha, the one at the counter, spoke up looking up from her phone for the first time that day, her head resting in her hand over the counter. Yeosang blushed and she gave him a knowing look. “I can go take orders if you wanna go have a chat, it’s not like we’re busy or anything. Just don’t push it too much.”

“Good luck, kiddo.” Onda said winking at him and motioning him forward.

“He’s already waiting for someone.” Yeosang mumbles back as an excuse frowning at whatever they were hinting at and not really knowing how to approach the other either way. 

“Thank you.” San smiled, taking his drink. “Are you busy? I wanted to talk for a bit if you have some time.”

Yeosang muttered a small agreement before sitting down across him. A moment of silence passed between them, San seemed to study the other quietly. His smile did not falter, but Yeosang could feel it, the way he was being appraised. Whether San was trying to read him as a person or as a threat Yeosang was not sure, he couldn’t say he liked that specific attention one bit.

“Do you need anything?” He fidgeted nervously not quite knowing where to rest his eyes on and his mind jumped back to gang affairs rather than San genuinely wanting to talk to him. Hongjoong did say they’d come to him for that.

“No, no! It’s nothing of the sort.” San chuckled guessing what the other was thinking. “Usually the one that gives out orders is Wooyoung, not me. No need to worry about that.”

“Wooyoung?” The thought of Wooyoung being so involved in this was worrying in all senses of Yeosang’s own predicament.

“Yeah, it’s a bit confusing at the start but you’ll get the hang of it soon. If you stick around, that is.” San’s face flashed to a more grim expression for a split second but quickly went back to his cheerful smile, leaving Yeosang to wonder if he imagined it. It reminded him of his first day there, San’s sharp eyes when Yeosang did not yet know who he was.

“I just didn’t know Wooyoung was so involved, he never said anything.” Yeosang couldn’t hide his frown when saying it out loud. He had hidden secrets from Wooyoung during their time apart, perhaps even bigger ones considering how many times Yeosang had gotten close to being arrested the last few years, still, it hurt to find out he had gotten the same secretive treatment from a chatty lad like his best friend.

“Well, of course, he didn’t. He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. You’re part of it now though, so I guess you should know how everything works.” The younger started as he grabbed a little packet of sugar and busied himself with working the paper lid off his coffee cup open. The rest from San’s unsettling gaze gave Yeosang a second to breathe. The older was making too much of a big deal off of it, but his eyes… Just had alarm sirens ringing in Yeosang’s head as if he could not let his guard down for a second.

It was almost comical how carefree San could appear to be when his mere presence had Yeosang so worked up.

“Basically Hongjoong plans things out with Wooyoung, afterward he relays the plan to us and then we execute it. Simple, right? Seonghwa sometimes doesn’t approve the orders though, he occasionally gets to change them to be a bit less risky, so if you’re not comfortable doing something just go to him.” San said sipping on his drink. He scrunches his nose and goes for another measure of sugar. “Mingi and Yunho listen to Hwa more than they do to our tiny captain, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Don’t need to worry about getting him mad or anything if Hwa’s plans sound better to you.”

“Wooyoung was just the first one to join, that’s why he and Hongjoong are so used to planning together.” San added at the end of his explanation, seeing Yeosang still seemed somewhat disgruntled, a pout on his lips that he himself didn’t even realize was there.

¨Is that so?¨ The older one was pulled from his thoughts with that. How that group was formed was definitely interesting information Yeosang could work with, extract any detail that helped him connect future dots or just a tidbit to keep Yeji distracted. Even if San had only mentioned it to soothe some of Yeo’s petty best friend ego.

¨Yeah, I mean Seonghwa helped him here and there before, but it wasn’t really a  _ thing _ before Wooyoung came along as far as I heard.” San rushed through his answer. “Anyway...”

“Did you join recently?” Yeosang asked a beat too fast, cutting the other off by mistake. Now San wasn’t really smiling anymore. The difference was so stark that it somehow managed to hurt in his chest, making the older regret saying anything at all.

“I joined after Wooyoung, it’s been a few years already.” The reply was void of any undertone, tone not in any way welcoming more questions.

“I see…” Yeosang mumbled again, eyes darting out the window.

“Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” San started again regaining his smile and cheerful tone almost as flipping a switch. “I wanted to know more about you.”

The blatancy of his interest caught Yeosang completely off guard.

“I tried asking Wooyoung, but he didn’t have much to say about his best friend besides how you suck at Mario Kart and that you really like sweets.” San continued, playfully swishing and pointing at the older with the tiny wooden stick he had just been using to stir his coffee. “ So I thought I’d pay you a visit and you could tell me about yourself personally. I mean if you asked me about Woo or Jongho I probably wouldn’t have much to say out of the blue too, but I could talk about whatever I’m interested in all day so… I probably came to the right place for that, don’t you think?” San’s smile widened encouragingly as he explained his logic, waiting for Yeosang to in turn go along with it.

Yeosang, however, didn’t really know what to say. Not only he hated the attention, but he was also so used to being closed off that anything barely came to mind. In fact most of the friendships he managed to accumulate up to this point were based on the lack of pressure to open up, a silent agreement to coexist. Even if he wanted to, Yeosang already did not know how to build up to honesty.

Much of his time was filled with mindless studying and then when he was finally free, most of his hobbies were supposed to be a secret. So he just fumbled with the hem of his sleeves trying to think on how to avoid this whole interaction. He talked himself out of countless uncomfortable situations before, this should be easy. Somehow it wasn’t. He took a moment too long in thought and San tried again.

“So… I guess you didn’t get into any clubs, right?” The younger asked, tilting his head.

“Yeah…” An interrogation. Yeosang didn’t know if direct questions were better or worse.

“So what do you do in your spare time?” San tried. A broad question.

“Hmm…” Again a long pause, his brain panicking to find words that would suffice. He thought back to his sketchbook, the spray cans lying forgotten at his old hideout and the campfire site by the side of the road. Couldn’t exactly say anything about that, could he?

“Well, Wooyoung told me you like sweets, what’s your favorite?” San asked again tentatively, the stutter in his voice showing how disheartened he was getting with each dead end.

“Chocolate cake.” Yeosang had been eating a lot of jellies lately too, but he didn’t feel like stretching his answer would help relieve the awkwardness.

“Do you have a favorite movie or a book?”

“Not really.” A few titles came up, but calling any of them his favorite seemed like an overstatement. Too much time spent studying to keep up with new titles anyway.

“How about sports, do you do any?”

“Hmmm…” Skating counted, right? Yeosang wanted the image they had of him here to be as far as possible from his old one though, so he wasn’t sure mentioning would favor him. Better to keep it a secret for now.

“Look. Honestly, I came here to try to feel the waters with you. You want in on our little group and we know nothing about you, so you gotta give me something. Anything. You’re close to Wooyoung and it’s hard to hide all this. I get it. We all get it. So it’s fine that you found out. It was only a matter of time, sure. It’s easier to protect you if you’re in the know too.  _ But _ , if you actually wanna be a part of this we gotta trust you, you know?” San’s expression was now back to being serious and this time it was clear he didn’t imagine it. Something dark in it intimidated him a bit and Yeosang felt like he was being scolded.

Yeosang noted that San’s face was an open book when he wasn’t actively trying to mask it. It couldn’t be a coincidence Yeosang kept grasping the change in his expressions when he knew San was part of the drama club. He heard from Wooyoung before, how much of a great actor the younger was and all the plays he had the main part for. Surry if he was here to trick the newbie, he’d do better. 

Or perhaps San could be doing it on purpose, he wasn’t sure. Trying to gain his trust by presenting himself as an honest guy that wore his feeling on his sleeve. The duality this boy had to go from his bubbly happy sunshine self to completely serious and dangerous in an instant was giving him major whiplash. 

Every time Yeosang was calming down and growing used to the other, the situation changed and suddenly he felt small and inadequate under his gaze again. His own face was perpetually flushed and the room felt too hot and Aisha was right, San really was cute but also really frightening and he was having a hard time thinking and the pressure to say anything that made San not hate him at that moment just had his mind racing but blanking at the same time.

“I-I like to build drones…” Yeosang blurted out the first thing that came to mind, he was trying to avoid anything that his old friends knew about him like skating or drawing. He liked building drones, fiddling with technology, he had a collection by now, but he hadn’t done it in such a long time. Probably a good choice to talk about, if only he was the least bit more eloquent...

San’s serious face fell and after a few moments to process what was said, he burst out laughing. At that Yeosang could only flush a deep shade of red.

“Build drones? That’s what you do in your free time?” San asked, sounding incredulous. “I mean, that sounds interesting, I just wasn’t expecting it at all.” He added, still chuckling a bit.

“I just thought they looked cool so I learned online how to make them, smaller ones, and stuff…” The older answered trailing off. If Yeosang could hide under a rock he would in a heartbeat.

“Most people just _buy_ one though, do you like tech stuff?” San continued asking, seeming genuinely interested.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Yeosang couldn’t afford to buy one for real. That’s why he built them off scrappy old parts, and of course, that was a good skill for him to learn in his mother's eyes, something he could brag about in his college application, so he was more than encouraged to do so, but he didn’t say that. No need to sour the mood so quickly after they finally had a conversation topic San seemed to be interested in pursuing.

“You and Yunho can have fun talking about this stuff then, he’s kind of our tech guy.” San continued carrying the conversation with the little bit of rope Yeosang provided. “I’m not really good with that stuff beyond my own cell phone. Although I’m pretty good at Mario Kart too, if you wanna come to hang out at our room later and defend your honor against Wooyoung’s defamatory claims.” He raised his eyebrows with a smile and Yeosang mumbled a quiet ‘sure’, trying not to fawn over his cute dimples.

He had half a mind to start worrying about how his reactions to San might be flourishing beyond just social awkwardness before Wooyoung arrived and he could take this chance to run off back to work.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr and twitter @ youseissi if anyone wants to interact i dont bite i promise


End file.
